Crucial game looms after Burnley slip up again to remain perilously close to bottom three
Saturday, April 13 is beginning to look like the crucial date in Burnley’s season. Cardiff City visit Turf Moor that day, and should Sean Dyche’s side fail to win, then a season that began in the Europa League could well finish with a drop to the Championship.
Victory over Tottenham Hotspur three weeks ago appeared to have pushed Burnley to the brink of safety; they were eight games unbeaten, and six points clear of the relegation zone. Yet the exertions of effectively ending Spurs’ title chances have arguably had a knock-on effect. Dyche’s side lost to Newcastle United and Crystal Palace, and defeat by 10-man Leicester City was their fourth in a row. They are now just two points above the bottom three, having played a game more than Cardiff, the team immediately below them.
Worryingly for Burnley, they face Chelsea, Manchester City, Everton and Arsenal in the final three weeks of the season. Before then, they host a Wolverhampton Wanderers team who have just knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup, and visit a Bournemouth side with one of the best home records outside the top six. With so little margin for error, slipping up at home to Cardiff next month is not an option.
“We’ve got two weeks now until the next game,” Burnley defender Charlie Taylor said. “So we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got seven games to stay in this league.
“The Tottenham performance is the standard we want to get to. If we play like that, then we’ll be OK.”
It has been a curious season for Burnley, who overachieved in finishing seventh last May, and have been contending ever since with the challenges that European qualification brought. They were in serious trouble after winning just three of their first 19 league fixtures, with a 5-1 home defeat by Everton on Boxing Day the low point.
It also appeared to be a turning point; Dyche dropped goalkeeper Joe Hart and recalled captain Tom Heaton, and the old Burnley returned as if by magic. Heaton, though, has not been at his best of late, partly culpable for two goals in defeat at Liverpool, and the defence is looking vulnerable from set-pieces again.
James Maddison’s free-kick for Leicester’s opener here was beautifully judged, but the defending for Wes Morgan’s late headed winner was not Burnley’s usual standard.
The frustration for Burnley was that this was a game there to be won. Centre-back Harry Maguire had been sent off in the fourth minute for a professional foul on Johann Berg Gudmundsson, but Dyche’s side could not make their extra possession count, even after Dwight McNeil’s first-time finish for the equaliser.
Victory for Leicester was their third in four matches; Maddison’s goal was his first since Dec 5, and perhaps a timely reminder of his abilities to Gareth Southgate, who omitted him from the latest England squad.
